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Message from the Vice-Chancellor and Principal
VICE-CHANCELLOR’S MESSAGE
Prof Tawana Kupe
Inspiring innovation
IT’S THE UP WAY
The University of Pretoria is a hidden jewel in the South African higher education landscape, with many facets of brilliance. In the year under review, it had numerous opportunities to demonstrate its clarity of purpose, unique research and depth of engagement.
The significant achievements the University of Pretoria (UP) could record in 2019 are testimony to a solid foundation, one that on 10 February 2019 was 111 years in the making as it celebrated this milestone of its existence. Going forward, UP will continue to use research and education of graduates to transform lives, transform communities and sectors, transform South Africa as a nation and a society, and transform the continent. In short, it will continue to make a significant contribution to changing the world.
In mid-2019, the University launched THE UP WAY, which is its ethos, the way of life at UP and what it stands for as an institution. It is as much about where it comes from as where it is heading to because THE UP WAY is about UP’s excellence, perseverance, respect, creativity, innovation, diversity, growth, kindness and making a difference every day. It reflects UP culture and what its community does to uplift each other and society to make today matter.
UP’s results prove that it is committed to making a decisive difference to transforming South Africa’s and Africa’s future through excellence in knowledge creation, relevant and impactful research, high-quality academic programmes, innovative teaching and learning, and social responsiveness and engagement.
This thread of excellence weaves throughout the UP system, from attracting top young talent to register at UP, through to retaining top-rated researchers, and featuring strongly in world rankings.
Talent pipeline continues to flow
UP remains a destination of choice and again succeeded in attracting students with outstanding school-leaving results. Almost one-third (32.4%) of the first-year students who achieved six or more A-symbols in the National Senior Certificate applied and were admitted to study at the University of Pretoria. This is up from 31.2% in 2018.
The UP undergraduate recruitment strategy emphasises the importance of responsible study and career choices and the employability of students. As a result, UP graduates are able to enter and enjoy success in the careers they choose – 93% of its students are either employed or continuing with their studies six months after graduating1. UP is among the top four South African universities in the Quacquarelli Symonds 2020 Graduate Employability Survey, which shows that our graduates are well-equipped for the world of work and highly soughtafter.
The National Research Foundation (NRF) rating has become an accepted academic performance benchmark in the higher education sector. In 2019, UP had 528
1 University of Pretoria (2018) Graduate destination survey: 2017 UP graduates.
rated researchers, a significant increase compared to previous years. The achievement of a P rating by three UP researchers is particularly gratifying. P-rated researchers are young researchers, under the age of 35 years, who are considered likely to become future international leaders in their respective fields.
There has been pleasing progress in UP’s efforts to increase the percentage of academics with a PhD as their highest qualification, which has increased from 43% in 2012 to 67% in 2019.
Achieving on a global scale
UP’s researchers are putting their credentials to work, with UP having major research success in a number of areas. These not only demonstrate the quality of the university’s research and the calibre of its academics but also research that makes a meaningful contribution to Africa and the world. Three significant breakthroughs, of international magnitude, are: performing the world’s first middle ear transplant with 3D printed bones; the imaging of the black hole; and the discovery that the earliest ancestors of anatomically modern humans emerged in a southern African “homeland”. In the latter two instances, UP researchers were part of a team of international scientists.
In addition to research, UP’s reputation is equally reflected in its rising international profile as evidenced by its strong showing in university rankings systems, which place the University among the top 1.9% of universities in the world, and by the growing number of areas in which it has attained global excellence. UP has a record number of researchers (56) in the top 1% according to the Web of Science Index of 2019. For the third consecutive year, its Faculty of Law has been ranked in the top 100 of the World University Rankings 2020 by subject, by the Times Higher Education (THE) survey. This achievement is unparalleled in South Africa and Africa.
One placing that was particularly pleasing was in the THE Impact Rankings, as it speaks to the university’s promise to do “research that matters”. UP participated for the first time in 2019 and featured among the top 100 universities in the world in three categories: Quality Education
(SDG 4), Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure (SDG 9), and Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions (SDG 16). It was ranked in the 101-200 band for Partnerships for the Goals (SDG 17) and Good Health and Wellbeing (SDG 3), with no other South African university ranked under 200 in this category. The THE Impact Rankings are the only global performance tables that assess universities against the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
The University’s community engagement continues apace, with 1 500 community sites of learning and 33 000 students involved in community outreach programmes, or volunteering. As a result of its contribution, UP is a member of the University Social Responsibility Network, a network of 16 top universities in the world selected for their responsiveness to their local context. It is critically important that the University uses knowledge to make a decisive difference to the lives of the people in South African communities.
Ensuring sustainable outcomes
With such innovative and exciting projects as the Future Africa Institute and complex and the Javett-UP Art Centre put into operation in 2019, and with other such transdisciplinary projects in the pipeline, 2019 offered a unique opportunity to harness as much national and international support for UP and its initiatives as possible.
Fundraising targets for 2019 were convincingly exceeded, the number of collaborators and potential collaborators on University projects increased exponentially, and international institutions vied for the opportunity to partner with UP in new and exciting projects.
UP has seen even greater growth in achieving its diversity targets. In 1994, 11% of the student population was black, and in 2019 that number stood at 65%. More than half the students are black women (55%), while black students make up 70% of occupants in UP residences.
Excellence on all fronts
UP alumni remain a cornerstone upon which the University builds its reputation. While this group can count among them many achievements, four in particular stood out in 2019: • Ronald Lamola was appointed as Minister of
Justice and Correctional Services by President Cyril
Ramaphosa. Minister Lamola completed two master’s degrees at the Faculty of Law as well as a postgraduate certificate in Competition Law. • Dion Shango was appointed the first black CEO of PwC
Africa. He visited Future Africa to discuss collaborating and partnering on various fronts.
Despite the challenges of coping with an extremely rare genetic disorder, Erika Barnard completed her four-year degree in a record three years. Fransjohan Pretorius, a well-known Emeritus Professor of History at UP, won the sought-after Jan H Marais Prize for his outstanding contribution to Afrikaans as an academic language. He is a B1-rated researcher. Sanesha Naicker, a former UP medical student, won the leading female pioneer in breast cancer research award at the 2019 Global Health and Pharma (GHP) Alternative Medicine and Holistic Health Awards. This is just the latest in a long list of awards won by this talented alumnus.
Even on the sporting front, UP took top honours on the podium of excellence. UP’s deserved Sportsman of the Year (2019) was Akani Simbine, a world-class sprinter, while Sportswoman of the Year was Tatjana Schoenmaker, South Africa’s “golden girl” in swimming. For the second consecutive year, UP were the overall Varsity Champions.
These developments, among others, prove that UP has all the right fundamentals in place on its journey to becoming the leading university on the continent and globally. UP is resolute that academics as researchers and teachers, students as learners and the next generation knowledge leaders, and all who work at the University, are active participants in this quest. This demands excellence and creativity.
A great deal has been achieved, and the University will continue to strive to become a proudly diverse and genuinely inclusive university. UP aspires to become an African Global University, locally responsive, but continental in scope and globally engaged in making a significant contribution to transforming the world. It still has a way to go to achieve this as the global community of universities faces major constraints in the form of boundaries and borders within and beyond higher education. However, UP must build on its common strengths, increase mobility and nurture a new generation of knowledge creators who transcend borders and boundaries to co-create impactful knowledge for a better world.
Prof Tawana Kupe Vice-Chancellor and Principal
Exceptional alumni 286 000+ Number of alumni
118 countries Alumni distribution
Top: Ronald Lamola. Above (from left): Sanesha Naicker, Dion Shango, Fransjohan Pretorius.
32+ 93+
Promising students
32 Percentage of top performers the National Senior Certificate in who applied to study at UP
Proudly inclusive
65+ 65% Black student population 55+ 55% Black women students 65+ 65% Black staff
Excellent teachers
56 Researchers in the top 1% of the world
528 NRF-rated researchers
World-class content
Top 100 UP Faculty of Law has been ranked in the Top 100 of the World University Rankings 2020 by subject Top 1% Research fields in which UP is ranked in the top 1% globally according to the Web of Science Essential Science Indicators: • Agricultural Sciences • Biology & Biochemistry • Clinical Medicine • Engineering • Environmental/Ecology • Immunology • Microbiology • Plant & Animal Sciences • Social Sciences
